Amusement ride



4 Sheets-Sheet l A. FELTMAN AMUSEMENT RIDE Nu. m

. m 5 mm m R HR m E mb Filed Jan. 17, 1940 M: Rx

Patented Dec. 17, 1940 AMosEt mN'r RIDE Alfred Feltman,

Palm Beach, Fla.

Application January 17, 1940, Serial No. 314,269

4. Claims.

This invention relates to an improved pleasure apparatus andparticularly to what is known as an amusement ride, an object being toprovide a construction which is an improvement over my prior Patent No.1,293,393.

Another object of the invention is to provide an amusement ride whereinthe movable members may be caused to move in a given path and also theentire apparatus tilted.

A further object of the invention is to provide an amusement ride havinga rotating member with independent cars mounted thereon and means forswinging the rotating member on a central axis so as to tilt the sameeither while stationary or moving.

A further and more specific object is to provide an amusement ridehaving a tiltable frame and a rotating platform or carrier thereon,together with freedom of the cars and adjustable deflectors fordeflecting the cars at certain points during their revolutions.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a top plan view of an amusementride disclosing an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View through Fig. 1 approximately on the line 2-2Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View of Fig. 4 approximatelyon the line 33;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary top plan view of part of the structureshown in Fig. 1 with certain portions broken away for illustrating adeflecting member in its association with one of the freely moving cars;

Fig. 5 is a sectional View through Fig. 1 approximately on the line 55;and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view similar to the right-hand end of thestructure shown in Fig. 2 but illustrating a modified form of thetilting structure.

Referring to the accompanying drawings by numerals, l indicates theground or other support on which standards 2 are mounted. Thesestandards are each formed with a bore 3 accommodating the shaft 4 towhich a frame 5 is preferably rigidly secured. The frame 5 in crosssection as shown in Fig. 2, is an elongated substantially diamond shapedstructure with suitable bracing bars transversely at the bottom and atthe top with a track member 6 of sheet metal or other suitable material.This track member is provided with a flat center 1 which is usually heldhorizontal, as shown in Fig. 5, when loading the ride with passengers.Extending from this central platform is an inclined circular section 8.A platform or carrier it is spaced above the track or platform 6. Thecarrier H) is of substantially the same shape as the track member 6 butat the periphery is provided with a walk or circular platform H. Acentral section I3 of carrier H] is horizontal when the parts are in theposition shown in Fig. 5. This places the section I3 of carrier I0 in aplane parallel to the circular platform H which is provided on theextreme outer edge with a fence 12. The carrier 10 is provided with anannular inclined section l4 which is 1o made up of a number of pieces ofmaterial l5, as shown in Fig. 1, and in each of the pieces l5 there isprovided a radiating slot it which extends from near thecenter of thedevice to the periphery. There is provided a car I! for each slot IE andeach of these cars is provided with a seat I8 and fiange l9 extendingbeneath the inclined section or portion Id of carrier ID. The car ll isshown in detail in Fig. 3 and from this figure it will be observed thatthe car body 20 is mounted upon a plate El having a pin 22 which isrotatable in a sleeve 23. Sleeve 33 is carried by a platform of wood,metal or other material. The platform 24 is preferably circular andslightly larger than the body 20 which is also circular. A band 25 isrigidly secured to the platform 2i and normally overlaps the body 25]whereby the body 29 may move with the platform .26 or rotateindependently thereof. Suitable anti-friction members 26 are connectedwith the platform .24 for supporting the same and the remaining part ofcar ll. Preferably, there is a centrally positioned anti-friction member26", as shown in Fig. 3, and a numberof supporting antifriction membersnear the outer edge, the latter anti-friction members being slightlyshorter than the central anti-friction member. This will allow a certaintilting action, particularly when one of the members strikes the raisedportion 27 carried by the track member 6. By reason of the 40 flange l5,the car il may freely rotate or slide' back and forth in slot I5 and maygyrate by reason of the member 2? without being disengaged from thecarrier Ill. By reason of this structure itwill be seen that there is acertain up and down movement of .the car and also a rotary and back andforth movement. All of the cars are constructed as shown particularly inFig. 3 and move around the central bearing 28 as the carrier I9 rotates.It will be observed that I the bearing 28 is supported by member 29 sothat t carrier H) may freely rotate.

An annular rack 33 is secured to carrier It at the center thereof, asshown particularly in Figs. 2 and 5. A pinion 3i continually meshes with42 of a tubular guide 43. on the abutment 39 so as to limit the movementunder the action of spring 4|.

rack 30 and this pinion is driven by electric motor 33 through suitabletransmission gears 34. A control rheostat 35 controls the currentsupplied to motor 3 to cause the motor to function at any desired speed.As shown particularly in Fig. 2 the rack 35 is preferably made fromsheet material and welded or otherwise rigidly secured to carrier II).

An inner annular member 36 is also welded or otherwise secured to themetal carrier l0 and carries a number of anti-friction members 31 whichcontinually rest on track 6. As shown particularly in Fig. 3, there isprovided an outer depending annular flange 36' which may be integralwith carrier Ill or rigidly secured thereto. Flange 1 35' carries anumber of anti-friction members 38 which roll on the track member 6.This allows the carrier Hi to freely rotate while the track member 6 isnormally held stationary,-either in the position shown in Fig. 5 Whchmay be called a horizontal position, or the position shown in Fig. 2which may be called a tilted position. It will be understood that thetilt may be anywhere between a horizontal position and the tiltedposition in Fig. 2. The latter position is the extreme tilted position.When in the extreme tilted position the upper portion of section l4, asshown in Fig. 2, is inclined slightly so that the cars will gravitatetoward the center of the ride. As the ride rotates the cars willgravitate outwardly. The outward movement is augmented by centrifugalaction.

Arranged in line with the center of the slots l6 are cushioningabutments 39, as shown particularly in Fig. 3. Each of these abutmentsis provided with a head 40 adapted to be struck by the annular band 25and also adapted to be pressed by the spring 4| which presses againstthe base A nut 44 is threaded The spring 4| is intended to prevent thecars from hitting the outer edge 45 when moved outwardly with someconsiderable force. This gives a nice cushioning action which willquickly slow down the move- ,ment of the car, usually stopping the samebefore the car strikes edge 45.

In order that the cars at spaced intervals may be moved radiallyinwardly, there are provided a plurality of deflecting members 46, asshown particularly in Fig. 4. As illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 1,there are two of these deflecting members but, if desired, more may beused or even less. Each deflecting member has a curved contact bar 41hinged at 48. A link 49 is pivotally connected at 50 to the bar 41 andat 5| to a lever 52 which is pivotally mounted at 53 on a bracketcarried by the track member 6. The outer end 54 of lever 52 is connectedwith a piston rod 55 connected with a suitable piston 56 in cylinder 51.A slot in rod 55 may accommodate journal pin 58 so that there will be nopinching action as the piston 56 moves back and forth. Air, steam orliquid under pressure is adapted to be supplied and exhausted throughpipes 59 and 60 so as to cause piston 56 to move back and forth. Whenthe piston 56 is moved to the right, as shown in Fig. 3, bar 41 will beswung outwardly away from the center of the apparatus and when thepiston 55 is moved to the left, as shown in Fig. 3, the bar 41 will beswung inwardly so that when any of the cars |1 strikes the same, therespective cars will be deflected so as to move radially inwardly. Ifthe ride is moving slowly this inward movement will be for only a shortdistance but if the ride is moving at a iair rate of speed, thedeflection of the cars will be greater. The operator can regulate thisby varying the speed or rotation of the carrier |0 or may vary theinward movement by varying the position of bar 41. Preferably, thecylinders 51 for the respective bars 41 are connected together so thatthese bars may swing inwardly or outwardly simultaneously.

Air, steam or liquid from any suitable source may pass through themaster valve 6|, as shown in Fig. 2, and then through the control valves62 and 63 for providing liquid at either end of the cylinder 64 whichcylinder is provided with the piston 65 connected with the piston rod66. Rod 66 is pivotally mounted at 61 while the cylinder 64 is pivotallymounted at 68. Thecylinder may be supplied withfluid under pressure ormay be exhausted of fluid through either of the control valves 62m 63 soas to tilt the ride to the position shown in Fig. 2 or to anyintermediate desired position. Instead of using this form of means fortilting the ride an auxiliary form may be usedgas shown in Fig. 6,wherein an areshaped rack 69 is bolted .or otherwise rigidly secured tothe frame 5 and continually meshes with pinion 10 which is actuated by aworm 1|. Worm 1| may be actuated by an electric motor 12 or by ahand-actuated crank, as preferred. As shown in Figs. 1 and 5, there isprovided a loading platform 13 and an unloading platform 14. It 'will beevident that both platforms could be used for loading and unloadingwithout departing from the spirit of the invention. Preferably, theapparatus is moved to a horizontal position, as shown in Fig. 5, whenloading or unloading. This will permit the passengers to step out of thecars on the circular plate at and then to one of the loading orunloading platforms.

I claim:

1. An amusement ride including a frame, hinge means for hinging theframe in. a fixed position, a reciprocating member secured to said framead- .jacent one end of the frame, hand controlled means forreciprocating said reciprocating memher for tilting said frame to adesired angle, a track member mounted on top of said frame, a pluralityof cars mounted to move over said track member, each of said cars havingan annular radiating flange, means for moving said cars over said trackmember and a carrier having a radiating slot for each of said cars, saidcars being positioned so that a portion thereof will project throughsaid slots while said flange is positioned beneath the undersurface ofsaid carrier for preventing said cars from leaving said track member.

2. An amusement ride including a stationary frame, a frusto-cone shapedsheet metal track member mounted on said fram and rigidly securedthereto, a carrier of substantiallythe same shape as the track membermounted torotate over said track member, said carrier having a pluralityof radially extending slots, a car extending through each of said slots,said cars being mounted on said track member and movable in a circle bysaid carrier as the carrierrotates, said carrier having a dependingannular flange at its periphery, a plurality of rollers carried by saidflange positioned to contact with said track member for supporting thecarrier at the periphery, a swinging car deflector connected to saidannular flange-at spaced intervals, power actuated means for swingingsaid deflector inwardly and outwardly whereby when any of the deflectorsare swung inwardly each car adjacent the periphery of the carrier willbe deflected radially 76 inwardly as it passes the deflector, andpoweractuated means for rotating said carrier.

3. An amusement ride including a supporting frame, a track membercarried by said frame, said track member presenting an inverted disklikestructure, a carrier of substantially the same shape as said trackmember spaced from the track member, means at the center of the carrierfor ro-tatably supporting the carrier, means acting on the carrieradjacent the center thereof for rotating the carrier, said carrierhaving a plurality of substantially radiating slots, a plurality of carsmounted to move over said track member, there being one car for each ofsaid slots, said cars projecting through the slots, an annular dependingband secured at its upper edge to the periphery of the carrier, and aresilient abutment carried by said band opposite each of said slots,each of said abutments including a tubular guard carried by said bandextending radially inwardly, a headed bolt slidably mounted in saidtubular guard and normally extending therefrom, a coil spring acting onthe head of said bolt and on base of said tubular guard for resilientlyurging said bolt radially inwardly and a stop secured to said boltadjacent the end opposite said head.

4. An amusement ride including a supporting frame, a track membercarried by said frame, said track member presenting an inverted disklikestructure, a carrier of substantially the same shape as said trackmember spaced from the track member, means at the center of the carrierfor rotatably supporting the carrier, means acting on the carrieradjacent the center thereof for rotating the carrier, said carrierhaving a plurality of substantially radiating slots, a plurality of carsmounted to move over said track member, there being one car for each ofsaid slots, said cars projecting through the slots, a bar having one endpivotally connected to said track member near the periphery thereof,said bar being positioned so that the free end may swing inwardly towardthe center of said track member, said bar being positioned so that saidcars will strike the same if the bar is swung outwardly a certaindistance for causing the cars to move radially inwardly along saidslots, and means for swinging said free end inwardly and outwardly, saidlast mentioned means including a link pivoted at one end to said bar andextending substantially radially of said track member, a lever pivotallymounted on said frame, one

end of said lever being pivotally connected to said link, a piston rodpivotally connected to the other end of said lever, a piston secured tosaid piston rod, a cylinder for said piston, and manually controlledmeans for admitting and exhausting fluid under pressure into saidcylinder at the respective ends for causing said base to swing inwardlyand outwardly.

ALFRED FELTMAN.

